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Alan H.
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I thought I would share the latest build of a “Jacobs VFD Control System”. Mark’s work and sharing of knowledge is well known to the PM owner community and others here on the Forum. Mark posted recently about his latest design iteration in this thread: http://www.hobby-machinist.com/thre...-vfd-control-system-build-with-a-twist.54752/
I am the recipient of Mark’s latest build and I thought I would share with the Forum what Mark and I have done to my PM1340GT lathe.
I started out like many thinking that I would salvage the stock components in the 3 phase machine to do a VFD conversion. I then evolved to wanting to implement Mark’s single relay design. And as usual, I landed on wanting the full Monty which is the 4 relay system with the proximity switch. Fortunately for me Mark agreed to build it and it is now in the machine and functional.
As you know, Mark’s work is outstanding and his control system is very well thought out and full of backup safety controls. Mark built the new control board and front panel switches and controls and shipped it all to me along with documentation. My job was to design, build, and install the VFD/power panel as well as install Mark’s work and configure the VFD with Mark’s suggested parameters. None of this is a small task. Mark’s work is tedious at best and his creation doesn’t start until he’s gathered the myriad of pieces and parts.
I personally had a big time with it all, albeit a bit challenging for me to get it to the level of “right and tight” that I require. I wore Mark out and gave his patience a good test with all my emails and queries. By the way, the Hitachi programming software is a bit of a PITA and should not be attempted at 11 p.m. at night after a long day. Yes, ask me how I know!
Thanks to Mark for his creative genius and thanks to all of you here that helped me via your posts, both past and recent, and your private messages responding to my questions. Thanks too to Matt and QMT for importing and making the machine available.
Meanwhile, the latest “Jacobs VFD Control System” is installed and running smoothly as expected. Here are some photos of the build.
First – Mark’s system installed:
The Jacobs System four relay control board fit like a glove in the control panel box of the lathe -
Notice Mark's trial of bulkhead connectors for the signal wiring to the VFD and for the Proximity Switch -
New front panel controls and P switch install as part of the Jacobs System -
My VFD/Power Panel build:
Front/side view of my panel
view of the panel's internals
View of bottom of panel with penetrations and intake air filter -
Again, a big thank you to Mark for helping me get this system in place.
I am the recipient of Mark’s latest build and I thought I would share with the Forum what Mark and I have done to my PM1340GT lathe.
I started out like many thinking that I would salvage the stock components in the 3 phase machine to do a VFD conversion. I then evolved to wanting to implement Mark’s single relay design. And as usual, I landed on wanting the full Monty which is the 4 relay system with the proximity switch. Fortunately for me Mark agreed to build it and it is now in the machine and functional.
As you know, Mark’s work is outstanding and his control system is very well thought out and full of backup safety controls. Mark built the new control board and front panel switches and controls and shipped it all to me along with documentation. My job was to design, build, and install the VFD/power panel as well as install Mark’s work and configure the VFD with Mark’s suggested parameters. None of this is a small task. Mark’s work is tedious at best and his creation doesn’t start until he’s gathered the myriad of pieces and parts.
I personally had a big time with it all, albeit a bit challenging for me to get it to the level of “right and tight” that I require. I wore Mark out and gave his patience a good test with all my emails and queries. By the way, the Hitachi programming software is a bit of a PITA and should not be attempted at 11 p.m. at night after a long day. Yes, ask me how I know!
Thanks to Mark for his creative genius and thanks to all of you here that helped me via your posts, both past and recent, and your private messages responding to my questions. Thanks too to Matt and QMT for importing and making the machine available.
Meanwhile, the latest “Jacobs VFD Control System” is installed and running smoothly as expected. Here are some photos of the build.
First – Mark’s system installed:
The Jacobs System four relay control board fit like a glove in the control panel box of the lathe -
Notice Mark's trial of bulkhead connectors for the signal wiring to the VFD and for the Proximity Switch -
New front panel controls and P switch install as part of the Jacobs System -
My VFD/Power Panel build:
Front/side view of my panel
view of the panel's internals
View of bottom of panel with penetrations and intake air filter -
Again, a big thank you to Mark for helping me get this system in place.
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